Bradley Cooper uses the phrase “I can’t edit myself” with enough frequency in Silver Linings Playbook to manage to regularly apologize yet still excuse himself as he delivers zinger after zinger. Basically he still harbors the simple notion that if he tells it like it is, remains honest with himself and tries hard enough to stay out of trouble, he’ll be able to return to his old status quo. That includes getting back his estranged wife despite the little matter of a restraining order against him. Just released from a mental hospital where he was diagnosed bipolar, Cooper returns to the presumed comfort and safety of his old homestead. Family (including Robert DeNiro as a bookmaking, obsessive-compulsive Dad) and friends think him crazy to feel such unwarranted optimism since he previously beat up a male work colleague after discovering him showering with his wife. That doggone restraining order again!
Director David O. Russell may have fashioned a romantic comedy of sorts out of two lead characters who suffer from mental illness but his take is anything but light and casual. Silver Linings Playbook’s main attribute is shining a high-powered search light on the moments in a family when tension is all too sure to rear its ugly head. Despite Lawrence’s cheeky charisma and Cooper’s self-deprecating if deliberate self-awareness, the characters are the antithesis of romantic, the opposite of exploitative Credit the savvy direction of Russell and the insightful source material of novelist Matthew Quick but don’t forget to include two of the brightest and most controlled performances of the year. Had Cooper or Lawrence been off the slightest, this whole project would have come tumbling down. They both manage to give their characters the requisite subtlety to present us a tale not just of redemption but of painful truths–those of disturbed personalities, sure, but ones we all can recognize. The added stretch that Cooper’s character in the novel was hospitalized for three years rather than the nine months depicted here serves to not so much undermine the seriousness of dealing with a mental illness but merely to compress it for the sake of a more successful outcome. Fresh on the heels of the Fighter, Russell yet again proves himself one of the best in getting the utmost out of an ensemble cast. DeNiro, who worked with Cooper in the delightful Limitless last year, is a quirky, gruff, yet oddly caring figure here and utterly devoid of any Frockerisms that have plagued his recent performances. Sexiest Man of the Year Cooper goes entirely against type, and Jacki Weaver gives an understated yet vital performance as Cooper’s compassionate mother.
Jennifer Lawrence.
She definitely has “it” in the old Clara Bow sense. Word has it that despite being thought too young for the role, Lawrence was accomodated a Skype audition for this film. Good thing. She apparently blew away Russell and company and now she finds herself the odds on favorite for a Best Actress Oscar. What is completely believable about her performance is that she pulls off both carefree nasty and sneakily compassionate–often in the same moment.
4.5 Old-Fashioned Screwball-Style Comedies With Contemporary Edge (out of 5)